Forts and Roman Strategy: A New Approach and Interpretation

by Paul Coby, M.C. Bishop (Foreword by)

Overview

Paul Coby here proposes a new system for the recording and mapping of Roman forts and fortifications that integrates all the data, including size, dating and identification of occupying units. Application of these methods allows analysis that brings new insights into the placement of these forts, the units garrisoning them and the strategy of conquest and defense they underpinned. This is a new and original contribution to the long-running debate over whether the Roman Empire had a coherent grand strategy or merely reacted piecemeal to emerging needs. Although the author focuses on several major campaigns in Britain as case studies, the author stresses that his method's are also applicable to elsewhere in the Empire. Lavishly illustrated with color maps, the book is also supported by a website and blogs, encouraging further investigation and discussion.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781526772114
Publisher:	Pen & Sword Books Limited
Publication date:	10/05/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	21 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

After a career in the British civil service in roles including transport policy, Paul Coby became Chief Information Officer in charge of digital technology at British Airways and then the John Lewis Partnership. In 2018 he joined Johnson Matthey, a global leader in sustainable technologies, as CIO. He is also a member of the advisory panel of AND Digital, a digital accelerator in the UK and Europe. He believes that his experience in digital technology has enabled him to deploy data analysis and visualisation to the Roman Army’s campaign methods and to apply organisational theory to how the Roman military machine thought. He has always been fascinated by the Roman Army and how it succeeded in controlling an empire from the Highlands of Scotland to the deserts of Arabia. He continues to deploy up-to-date data analysis techniques to Roman forts and campaigns to generate new insights into the mind of the Roman military machine, now turning to the Roman Limes in Germany and Romania, as well as the Roman Army's response to Boudica’s Revolt and the dense network of forts in Northern England.

Table of Contents

Foreword M.C. Bishop vi

Introduction: The Nature of the Roman Army in the First and Second Centuries AD vii

Chapter 1 The Roman Army - Neither the Pentagon nor Predator 1

Part 1 The Case Studies 5

Chapter 2 Scapula's Failed Conquest of the Tribes of Wales 7

Chapter 3 Failed Conquest in Wales Becomes Containment under Gallus 37

Chapter 4 Governor Julius Frontinus' Masterclass in Wales 54

Chapter 5 Agricola in Scotland - Rome's First Frontier followed by Rome's Failure? The Flavian Conquest and-Retreat from Scotland 92

Chapter 6 The Antonine Wall - Military Overstretch and Policy U-Turns on Rome's North-West Frontier 137

Part 2 The Method 179

Chapter 7 A New Digital and Cartographical Approach 181

Chapter 8 The New Data-led Analytical Method (D-LAM) 198

Chapter 9 A New Graphical and Cartographic Tool-set 204

Chapter 10 Conclusions 220

Appendix 1 Visiting the Sites of the Campaigns 233

Appendix 2 Forts and Roman Strategy (FRoSt) 238

Bibliography 240

Index 244

Editorial Reviews

A new and fascinating approach to the study of Roman military history, Forts and Roman Strategy… will prove to be a unique and prized addition to personal, community, and academic library collections and supplemental Roman Military History curriculum reading lists.

Midwest Book Review